How high can I go?

[Stuey]

Ok, so I have not folded for nearly 1.5 years after a brief stint.

One of my PCs is undergoing modifications and the installation of a awatercooling loop. That will ease the concern of overheating that I had last time I tried to fold.

I also have one or two other CPUs I might be willing to try to fold on again. I don't have start to install everything today but I will soon.

Right now I'm in 206th place, with 9 work units.

How high do you think I will rise between now and April 1st?

Note: I have no idea how high I will rank, nor does it really matter - I just wanted to throw it out there that I'm back and since I'm not paying for electricity, I'm going to give folding another chance!

[hitchface]

Your ranking will all depend. Some people have probably had tons of WUs but they aren't worth a whole lot. I have a 20,000 frame WU that I have been waiting on since I started folding, and I am only about halfway through. Once that one finishes I am pretty sure I'll jump a few spaces. It really is hard to tell because you don't really know what WUs are going to come your way.

[Stuey]

I know, but basically I'm starting up from near scratch again. I'm expecting to move up quickly though. mwahahaha.

[Panama Red]

There's plenty of room at the top. Come on up!

[enhanced08]

It really depends on what units you get, what kind of system you have, how many systems, how each system is configured, etc. The best thing to do is to fire them up and see what happens!

Welcome back to the team!

[Stuey]

I've already got two consoles going on my PVR box, and one going on my laptop. The ones on my PVR are going VERY slowly. the one on my laptop is going a lot quicker.

PVR = 2.6 P4 w/ Hyper Threading
Laptop = T2400 Core Duo

(each w/ a gig of ram and with the text only consoles running)

Is the Core Duo really that much more efficient than the P4?

[enhanced08]

yes the core 2 duo is much more powerful than the P4 and to make things even better you can run 2 instances of folding on it to double your work/points rather than a ~15% gain you get with HT on the P4's.

[hitchface]

Could I do the same with my CPU or is this an Intel only sort of deal?

[Stuey]

It's a Core Duo, not a Core 2Duo!

I probably won't install a second instance on the laptop though.

hitchface, from what I read tonight, it can be done with any "hyperthreading" or dual core chip.

[hitchface]

Hmm...I might just have to give that a shot. For now I have to sift through these as homework and studying for a test...joy to the world.

[Stuey]

Eek. Sounds like fun. I too have an exam. Less than 9 hours to go and I'm soooo not ready!

[hitchface]

The nice thing is that I can fold freely at this point. This is one of the few times when I am not power-using this machine to death. Usually I need to squeeze every cycle out of this box as possible.

[enhanced08]

Originally Posted by Stuey It's a Core Duo, not a Core 2Duo! I probably won't install a second instance on the laptop though. hitchface, from what I read tonight, it can be done with any "hyperthreading" or dual core chip.

oops, read it too fast. my bad, but still the core duo is much more powerful than the P4.

hitchface, you can run 1 instance of folding per core/cpu unless you have HT then you can run 2, one on the first core and one on the "second". having 2 physical cores/chips will double your points/work whereas HT will only give you about a 15% increase.

[hitchface]

Rock on. I like it.

[Stuey]

Ah, what the heck. My lappy's fan is pretty loud. If I've got to listen to it while studying, I may as well have it do twice the work for now.

[enhanced08]

haha! thats the spirit! but is it a dual core/cpu/HT? if not then adding a second client wont help any, it will do twice the work but at half the speed.... :/

[Stuey]

It's a dual core Core Duo.

BUT with bote cores going at it, the lappy turned into a jet engine. So alas, I'll leave the multithreading to the desktops and run a single console on the laptop for the time being.

[hitchface]

Jet engine eh? Sounds like my desktop. 120mm fans x 5, 200mm fan x 1, 92mm fan x 1, 80mm fans x 2, 50mm fan x 1. Awwwright.

[Stuey]

Well, my room is unusually warm unless the window is W I D E open. And the Dell E1505 likes to kick the fan into gear whenever the CPU is chugging away at something. The system's approaching its 1st birthday. In about 6 -12 months, I'll rip it open and apply some AS5 to the heat sink. That should help if all that's there now is a thermal pad that's getting brittler over time.

Exam in less than 7 hours - eek I'd better get to bed!

[hitchface]

Yeah, get some sleep why doncha! Have a good night, and happy folding.

[Stuey]

Well, maybe two instances on my media box wasn't the greatest idea - it didn't even get through one of them yet.

Meanwhile, my laptop prematurely finished 1 WU and successfully finished 1 more.

I am now officially in the top 200 of pcmechers (woo).

[Stuey]

Moving up - 189th place, woo!

I've got an office box running one instance, my PVR box running two, my laptop running one, and as soon as my main desktop is up and running again, it'll have an instance too!

Although, I'm not sure if I should have my PVR box running one or two - it took an awfully long time to pump those WUs out.

[dogdude16]

how much faster is the text conosle than the GUI?

[hitchface]

I really do wonder what place I'll be in after my 1st WU completes. 20,000 frames. Supposed to finish sometime today or tomorrow. I'll let you know what happens.

[enhanced08]

The text client is a bit faster, but its better in the fact that you dont get any OpenGL errors like you do with the GUI while playing some games or opening some applications. The text just runs MUCH smoother, IMO.

Im glad to see so much more intrest in this project here lately! Fold On Everyone!!

[dogdude16]

i was just wondering because i installed it on my friends old computer and i wanted to get the most performance out of it. all he does is listen to music and browse the web so there wont be any openGL errors.

[hitchface]

I think I'll switch over once tis puppy is done.

[Stuey]

If it's set to run as a service upon startup, is there any way to have the console come up so the status can be observed? Just curious.

[Panama Red]

Run all your clients as services, then download EM3 to monitor the progress of all machines on a common network. If you just want to check the progress periodically, check in your Folding folder and open the unitinfo file. Make it easy if you want and put a short cut to it on your desktop. EM3 allows me to see the progress of all my pc's at a glance while providing a projected completion time too. Also shows the points for the WU's on each pc. Here's a link if you're interested.

http://home.comcast.net/~wxdude1/emsite/download.html

[Stuey]

I removed the client on my laptop just because it goes into standby mode several times a day and I'd like to be sure to close and stop the folding manually so it doesnt have any errors. All the other clients are running in service mode though.

I'm debating if I should run two clients on my office machine as well. It's a P4 531 with 1 gig of ram. But it's an HP box (possibly a business box) and I'm not sure of its cooling situation. I guess it can't hurt to give it a try, but I'd rather use 100% of a CPU only on machines I can monitor more rigorously like the PVR box. The folding rose the box temps by slightly over 10 degrees C. I'm not sure I want to see if my office machine can tolerate such a jump with stock cooling. Any suggestions?

And PR, I read the descriptions of that program before but decided I didn't want or need it. I've changed my mind and will give it a try - thanks for the reminder!

Is there any way to remotely check the status of my office machine? My laptop is usually networked to my PVR box but not the office box. And to check the status of the PVR box, I have to share both Folding directories, right?

Edit: The EM3 program isn't showing realtime status unless I run the console on the networked box. Is there any way to have real time status refreshed for when the services are running?

Edit2: Ok, I think I got it all going right now. Allthough one of the PVR box instances is reporting back with a time per frame probem. Oh well.